Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 has been considered a classic and Capcom has managed to make this classic even better. This makes sense in part, of course, because the new hardware makes more things possible than was previously possible on the Nintendo Game Cube. It makes sense that the game looks even better than before. However, there are also all kinds of changes in the gameplay, and even the game design and flow have changed. That’s a risk, because those things were the strengths of the original Resident Evil 4. However, the changes are well reflected: Resident Evil 4 is now a more modern game and plays better than the original, without the charm of losing that original. This game is worth playing, even if you’ve played the original game before.
New games are no longer cool. Old games is what we love! This was said a bit as a joke, of course, but it’s clear that we’re now in a great wave of remakes and remakes. One old game after another gets a next-gen patch, debuts on a modern console or even gets revamped from the ground up… Feel like you’ve read this before? That’s right, because that’s the verbatim intro text I used when reviewing the recently released remake of Dead Space. Hey, if game makers are allowed to re-release old games, can’t I also reuse intro scripts? More importantly, Resident Evil 4 is the next game in an ever-growing list of classics to hit modern platforms polished and updated, and once again the result is definitely there.
The fact that Resident Evil 4 deserves the title of “remake” becomes apparent during the gameplay. Of course there are the new visuals, but the gameplay has all sorts of options that didn’t exist in the original. For example, the main character Leon Kennedy can now crouch and use a knife to block enemy attacks. Both affect the game quite a bit; You can now sneak up on enemies more effectively and take them out silently and you will be more agile in combat. However, the knife now has a kind of “life bar”, indicating its condition. The knife can break and then you can’t use it until it’s fixed.
You can read more about these changes, big and small, below. Let’s look at the bigger picture first, though, as the game’s setting remains unchanged. Resident Evil 4 revolves around the mission of secret agent Leon Kennedy, who has to search for the kidnapped little eagle, or the daughter of the president of America, somewhere in Europe. Leon, of course, is no stranger. He is also the main character in Resident Evil 2. His ability to survive the events of Raccoon City, which was overrun by zombies, prompted the US government to recruit him as a special agent. When the chief’s daughter is kidnapped, the government assumes the presence of the mole. So Leon is sent alone to scout the area where Baby Eagle is said to be.
This is of course completely wrong. In no time, the local police officers who helped Leon die and Leon himself also encounters bloodthirsty zombie-like people. It seems that all the people within miles have been under the influence of a strange leader of some kind of cult, who is keeping Baby Eagle hidden somewhere. During the search, Leon not only learns more about the whereabouts of the Chief’s daughter, but also about what exactly is going on in the area. In addition, he can also complete a number of optional side missions, which can lead to obtaining special rewards. These additional missions are new and give the player a reason to explore previously visited areas on a larger scale thus extending the total playtime slightly.
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